On 07/23/2014 08:47 AM, R.S. wrote: > I know a little about mainframes and about SHARE, but I don't know how > it's paid. > Can I simply pay and attend given SHARE conference or rather my > company hasve to become SHARE member and the send empleyr to the > conference? > What about SHARE materials (presentations) ? > > I did some research (I couln't call it RTFM, because there is no FM) > and I found "special offering" for $7000 (valid two years - but for > what?) or remote access to the session recordings for $550. Well... > Hell expensive IMHO! > > >From past experience and reading the current on-line SHARE Bylaws, Policies, and Conference registration materials:
Only an "establishment" can become a member of SHARE, the main requirement being that the establishment must " Own, rent or lease, or exercise control and management of a computing environment consisting of one or more of the following: An IBM operating system. An IBM computing system (hardware). An IBM storage system. Other substantial IBM technology including enterprise-class software and services (e.g. IGS) solution" While that could includes a one-person company, the intent clearly is that those attending conferences are in some sense delegates of paying IBM customers so that SHARE may represent the views of those customers to IBM. There is a one time application processing fee for membership, which I cannot find explicitly quantified anywhere on the SHARE web site (without perhaps going through the process of filing out an application and getting an invoice). An establishment that is not yet a member can send an attendee to one of the two annual conferences on a Full non-member registration, which costs more than member registration, and according to registration info for upcoming August conference "non-member registration also includes a SHARE corporate membership". The non-member registration for this August's Conference appears to be $450 higher than member-registration, from which I would deduce that the one-time member application fee may now be around $450. There is no annual membership renewal fee, but to retain membership the establishment must continue to fullfill the original requirements for membership, must fill out and return an annual information form from SHARE and must participate in a least one SHARE activity during each calendar year. That used to mean a minimum of sending at least one delegate (who must be an employee of the company) to one SHARE Conference per year, but perhaps that now also includes remote participation in a Conference. In other words, it is the participation in SHARE events that is the major source of continued funding for SHARE. While an annual Conference registration of $1,640 may seem like a lot, it covers 6 days, historically has been much less than formal 3rd-party technical classes of even shorter duration and less content, and covers a breadth of material that is hard to beat. Of course, costs for travel, hotel, and food for a week Conference easily doubles or triples the effective corporate cost per attendee. But for a company that is smart enough to realize the value of continuing education for their technical staff, it is still a good investment. -- Joel C. Ewing, Bentonville, AR [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
